Washington, D.C. – Today, the Sierra Club Political Committee and the Environmental Defense Action Fund launched a new ad in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, highlighting Republican State Senator Joni Ernst’s extreme calls to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Education. The ad is the first from the two organizations in the race and the latest salvo in a $1 million coalition effort to defeat Ernst.

“Whether its her plan to gut student aid or decimate the safeguards that keep pollution away from our communities, Joni Ernst has proven she is just too extreme for Iowa,” said Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, “The last thing Iowa needs in the U.S. Senate is another politician that puts big polluters and big corporations first while leaving Iowa families behind.”

The non-partisan fact-checking organization Politifact has rated as “true” the fact that Ernst has pledged to shutter both the EPA and the Department of Education. If enacted, Ernst’s plan would close the doors on the agency responsible for enforcing critical public health and environmental laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and eliminate the agency that helps provide upwards of 200,000 Iowa students with Pell Grants assistance every year.

“Iowa families care about the air their children breathe and the water they drink,” said Elizabeth Thompson, President of Environmental Defense Action Fund. “They need to know that Joni Ernst is planning to abolish the agency that enforces our clean air and clean water laws.”

From July 11 to July 18, the ad will run in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids markets. It is the latest part of a nearly $1 million coalition effort by groups including the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Action Fund, and the League of Conservation Voters to defeat Ernst and elect Bruce Braley to the U.S. Senate in November.